UEFA CupPlayers from Nancy and Feyenoord were led from the field struggling from the effects of tear gas as violence returned to the UEFA Cup on Thursday.
On the night Espanyol, Panathinaikos and Nancy celebrated reaching the knockout round, trouble flared in Nancy and tear gas, reportedly fired by police at visiting Feyenoord fans, forced players off the field 10 minutes from the end with the home team leading 3-0 and seemingly also certain to qualify.
The game eventually resumed in a virtually empty stadium, and Nancy captured the victory it needed.
Espanyol, which won 2-0 at four-time European champion Ajax in Group F, and Panathinaikos, which drew 0-0 at home to Mlada Boleslav in Group G, also joined nine other teams who had already made it -- defending champion Sevilla, AZ Alkmaar, Rangers, Maccabi Haifa, Tottenham, Dinamo Bucharest, Parma, Blackburn and Newcastle -- with another round to come.
Of the eight groups, 24 teams go into the knockout round and they will be joined in the Dec. 15 draw by eight third-place finishers in the Champions League.
It was another night when fan violence marred UEFA Cup soccer in France.
Supporters of Feyenoord ran through the streets of Nancy breaking windows. There was more trouble inside the stadium and, when tear gas began to flow across the field, the referee led the players off the field.
Sebastien Puygrenier gave Nancy a 22nd-minute lead and an own goal by Luiz Andre Bahia three minutes before halftime made it 2-0.
It got worse for Feyenoord when Royston Drenthe was sent off for a second yellow card with 30 minutes still to go, and that led to another flareup between the visiting fans and police.
Six minutes later Monsef Zerka tripled the lead from the penalty spot.
On a dismal night for Dutch soccer, Group F leader Espanyol easily beat Ajax 2-0 in Amsterdam and the home side was jeered off the field by its own fans.
Uruguayan striker Walter Pandiani headed the first in the 36th minute and set up the second for Ferran Corominas in the 77th. With a maximum nine points from three games, Espanyol has guaranteed a place in the last 32 while third-place Ajax, which has four, can still get there provided it doesn't lose its final game heavily.
Luckily for the Dutch powerhouse, Sparta Prague, which won 1-0 at Austria Vienna thanks to Tomas Repka's goal and also has four points, has played all of its games and has an inferior goal difference.
There were no goals in Group G but that meant leader Panathinaikos made it to the knockout round. Its 0-0 draw with Rapid Bucharest gave the Greek club seven points from three games and out of range of both Mlada Boleslav and Paris Saint-Germain, who also drew 0-0 and have two points each. They can still catch Hapoel Tel Aviv and Rapid for the other two spots, however.
Group H leader Newcastle was already through and held Eintracht Frankfurt to 0-0 in Germany while Celta Vigo edged Fenerbahce 1-0 to move into the second spot thanks to a 76th-minute strike from a free kick by Uruguayan midfielder Fabian Cannobio.
RSS